Head coach Graeme Thomas's A squad made the short trip to Oxford for round two of the National Speedo League, but the Evening Post-sponsored team found the going much tougher than in their solid round one third-place performance at Central Pool.
A share of fifth place in the six-team meet, dominated by Guildford City, means Reading have an anxious wait to see whether they will swim round three in the comfort zone among the 18-team Southern Premier Division's middle six clubs, or be in the relegation gala to decide the four teams dropping into Division One.
Most of Reading's top swims came in the male programme. Matt Sandell got the 50-heat meet off to a great start with a 59.42 win in the open 100m individual medley.
This was immediately followed by a strong third place from the 12 and under freestyle relay quartet of David Mills, James Bradley, Barnaby Kempster and Matthew Alderman, with Mills marginally the fastest. Kempster later swam up in the 13 and under freestyle team, with a brave final leg against much bigger opposition which augurs very well for future competitions.
Adam Barrett was Reading's other individual winner, with a blistering return to butterfly form in 1.07.62 and a very clear margin in the top under 14 swim of the evening. Inspired by this, Barrett was a very close second in his 100 free in 1.02.53.
Garry Dixon and York Kloeppel swam strongly throughout the meet, beginning with the under 16 freestyle relay where they were joined by Craig Frankum and Alex Macarthur for an excellent second spot. Dixon was fastest in 26.20 and Kloeppel and Macarthur swam identical 26.84s.
Dixon was pushed into second place by a whisker in his year's 100 free and was also a close third in the 100 back. This was matched by Chris Boyce one age group down, while Macarthur pulled out an excellent 100m fly third and Sandell was third in the open free.
The under 16 medley team produced another second place, with the foundation laid in a strong second leg of breaststroke by Kloeppel.
Sandell and Dixon were fastest in the six-leg open freestyle relay which closed the meet, where they were joined by Bruno Bamberger, Rob Knott, Alex Perrin and Russel Korting for what proved a vital third place when points were tallied.
Top girls' swim of the night came from Leona Jones in the open breaststroke, which featured a three-way finish much too close to call from the gallery where she was adjudged second in 1.15.33.
Louisa Downs, in a busy night which saw her swimming in the open category as well as her own 15 and under group, put in a respectable 1.02.26 for a 100m free third spot, while further third places went to Annette Hopson (under 12 50m backstroke), Ashley James (13 and under 100 back) and Katie Hawkins (100 breaststroke in the same year).
The girls' relays didn't go as well as the boys', with the top placings a third for the 13 and under freestyle team (James, Hawkins, Frankie Wilkins and Rachael Mills) and a fourth for the open medley team (Holly Tanner, Jones, Downs and Emma Zadrozny).
Final scores:
| 1. | Guildford City | 260 |
| 2. | Wycombe | 179 |
| 3. | Bexley | 161 |
| 4. | City of Oxford | 156 |
| 5. | Reading | 147 |
| 5= | Rushmoor | 147 |
Reading team:
Louisa Downs, Katie Hawkins, Naomi Herring, Annette Hopson, Ashley James, Leona Jones, Isabelle Keenan, Amy Kunicki, Rachael Mills, Kristina Paige, Holly Tanner, Frankie Wilkins, Georgie Wilkins, Eleanor Wood, Emma Zadrozny.
Matthew Alderman, Bruno Bamberger, Adam Barrett, Chris Boyce, James Bradley, Garry Dixon, Craig Frankum, Barnaby Kempster, York Kloeppel, Rob Knott, Russel Korting, Alex Macarthur, David Mills, Alex Perrin, Matt Sandell, Callum Willcox
end